Article

ISSN 0006-2979, Biochemistry (Moscow), 2025, Vol. 90, No. 11, pp. 1451-1453 © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2025.

Published in Russian in Biokhimiya, 2025, Vol. 90, No. 11, pp. 1539-1543.

1451

EDITORIAL NOTES

Andrey Nikolaevich Belozersky: Five Decades in Science.

Preface to the Special Issue

Alexey A. Bogdanov

1,2

and Andrey A. Zamyatnin Jr.

1,3,a

Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University,

119992 Moscow, Russia

Faculty of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University,

119991 Moscow, Russia

Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics, Lomonosov Moscow State University,

119234 Moscow, Russia

e-mail: zamyat@belozersky.msu.ru

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297925602576

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

The scientific biography of Andrey Nikolaevich

Belozersky (1907-1971), an outstanding Soviet bio-

chemist and molecular biologist, has been detailed

in several Russian-language publications [1-3]. How-

ever, his life and work remain largely inaccessible to

the international scientific community. Therefore, as

an introduction to this special issue of Biochemistry

(Moscow) dedicated to his memory, we provide a con-

cise overview of his scientific career.

Andrey N. Belozersky was born 120 years ago

in Tashkent, then a small town. He completed his

schooling in Alma-Ata but returned with his family to

Tashkent in 1917. His scientific career, which spanned

exactly half a century, divides logically into five dis-

tinct decades.

DECADE ONE (1920-1930).

THE BEGINNING

Andrey N. Belozersky began his scientific work

in 1922 upon enrolling in the Physico-Mathematical

Faculty of the Central Asian State University. This fac-

ulty trained not only physicists and mathematicians

but also – in a manner similar to Moscow Univer-

sity at the time – chemists and biologists. He soon

embarked on research under the supervision of

Andrey V. Blagoveshchensky, a prominent Russian

biochemist who had come to Tashkent from Moscow.

It was Professor Blagoveshchensky who subsequently

introduced Belozersky to the Moscow-based biochem-

ist Alexander R. Kizel.

DECADE TWO (1930-1940).

FIRST DISCOVERIES

In 1930, Professor Kizel invited the twenty-five-

year-old Belozersky to move to Moscow and assist him

in establishing the Department of Plant Biochemistry

at Lomonosov Moscow State University. Within just

three to four years, Belozersky made a discovery that

would later secure his place among the pioneers of

nucleic acid science: he identified thymine in plant

nucleic acids, a base previously found only in ani-

mal DNA, thereby proving the universal distribution

of DNA throughout the living world [4, 5].

This period also included his excellent work in

the late 1930s on bacterial DNA and RNA [6, 7], which

gained international recognition in the following de-

cade. Concurrently, he conducted extensive research

on DNA-binding proteins. Even in these early stud-

ies, he demonstrated a firm conviction that nucleic

acids exist and function within the cell exclusively

as complexes with proteins [8, 9].

Fig. 1. Andrey Nikolaevich Belozersky

BOGDANOV, ZAMYATNIN1452

BIOCHEMISTRY (Moscow) Vol. 90 No. 11 2025

DECADE THREE (1940-1950).

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

In 1943, during World War II, Belozersky began

studying gramicidin S, one of the first two Soviet an-

tibiotics, discovered the previous year by G.  F.  Gause

and M.  G. Brazhnikova. The following year, in collab-

oration with these distinguished scientists and his stu-

dent T.  S.  Paskhina, he published a paper determining

the amino acid composition of this cyclic peptide an-

tibiotic [10].

A pivotal scientific event occurred in 1944.

American scientist Oswald Avery and his colleagues

demonstrated the transfer of a genetically inherited

trait between organisms using protein-free DNA [11].

Belozersky was one of the few biologists worldwide

who recognized and fully appreciated the profound

significance of this finding.

In 1946, Belozersky was invited to deliver a ple-

nary lecture at the first-ever international symposium

on nucleic acids, held at Cold Spring Harbor Labo-

ratory in the United States. Although he was unable

to attend, he submitted the text of his lecture. This

manuscript subsequently formed the opening chapter

of the first scientific monograph dedicated entirely to

nucleic acids [12].

DECADE FOUR (1950-1960).

A MAJOR SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH.

THE BELOZERSKY SCHOOL

In the late 1940s, the Austrian-born American

biochemist Erwin Chargaff established key patterns in

the nucleotide composition of DNA from different or-

ganisms, now known as “Chargaff’s Rules.” The most

famous of these is the equivalence of A=T and G=C

base pairs [13]. Historians of science universally agree

that without this fundamental insight, the discovery

of the DNA double helix by Watson and Crick would

have been delayed for many years.

A.  N.  Belozersky immediately recognized the sig-

nificance of Chargaff’s work and, with remarkable pre-

science, initiated a large-scale study – seemingly alone

in the world at the time – on the nucleotide composi-

tion of both DNA and RNA across diverse organisms.

From the vast quantitative data amassed by

Belozersky and his collaborators, several fundamen-

tal conclusions emerged. First, they demonstrated

that comparing the ratios of heterocyclic bases in

DNA from different organisms could reliably reveal

their evolutionary relationships. These findings laid

the groundwork for the new field of genosystematics.

Second, by comparing these base ratios in DNA and

RNA from a wide variety of sources, A.  N.  Belozersky

and A.  S.  Spirin made a critical discovery: while base

ratios vary widely in DNA, they are conserved within

a narrow range in RNA. Spirin and Belozersky con-

cluded that the bulk of cellular RNA does not code for

proteins and, through sophisticated correlation analy-

sis, established that only a small fraction is involved

in protein coding [14]. Merely a couple of years later,

the existence of this class of RNA – messenger RNA

(mRNA) – was confirmed.

Belozersky’s interest in RNA during this period

was profound and extended to the problem of the

origin of life. In 1957, he presciently wrote: “There

is no doubt that nucleic acids have played a signif-

icant role in the development of the organic world.

However, it is unlikely that RNA and DNA arose si-

multaneously in the early stages of life’s development.

It seems to us that the emergence of ribonucleotides

and then RNA was primary. DNA arose significantly

later, parallel to the increasing complexity of functions

and greater differentiation of protoplasm.” [15]. Thus,

A.  N.  Belozersky can rightly be considered a forerun-

ner of the now-established “RNA World” hypothesis.

The groundbreaking achievements of this decade se-

cured his reputation as one of the founding fathers of

molecular biology.

DECADE FIVE (1960-1970).

THE BELOZERSKY INSTITUTE

In early 1963, the Rector of Lomonosov Moscow

State University, Ivan  G.  Petrovsky, invited A.  N.  Be-

lozersky to discuss fostering the “new biology” at the

university. This interdisciplinary field, flourishing at

the intersection of biology, physics, and chemistry,

was rapidly advancing in leading scientific nations.

Together, they decided to establish a novel academic

unit, naming it the Interfaculty Laboratory of Bio-

organic Chemistry. Rector Petrovsky proposed that

Belozersky lead this new division, an offer he prompt-

ly accepted.

Belozersky’s core organizational principle for the

Laboratory was to unite young university researchers

who had already demonstrated significant scientific

promise. With an average age of about thirty, each

was granted the autonomy to establish their own re-

search team. Unsurprisingly, within just five or six

years – and still during Belozersky’s lifetime – the sci-

entific community came to regard the Laboratory as a

defacto research institute, operating at the level of the

premier academic institutions in molecular biology.

Upon being formally granted institute status,

it was renamed the A.  N.  Belozersky Institute of

Physico- Chemical Biology. This legacy continued when

V.  P.  Skulachev, who led the Institute for the subse-

quent half-century, founded the new Faculty of Bioen-

gineering and Bioinformatics. This faculty has become

ANDREY NIKOLAEVICH BELOZERSKY 1453

BIOCHEMISTRY (Moscow) Vol. 90 No. 11 2025

one of the most sought-after at Lomonosov Moscow

State University and remains organically linked to the

Institute.

REFERENCES

1. Spirin, S. A. (2006) Andrey Nikolayevich Belozersky:

On the 100th Anniversary of His Birth. Scientific

and Pedagogical Activity, Memoirs, and Materials

[inRussian], Nauka Publishers, Moscow.

2. Razin, S. V. (2024) From Plant Biochemistry to Molec-

ular Biology: 95 Years of the Department – A Memoir

Project (in 2 Volumes) [in Russian], Vol.1, Buky-Vedi,

Moscow.

3. Razin, S. V. (2024) From Plant Biochemistry to Molec-

ular Biology: 95 Years of the Department – A Memoir

Project (in 2 Volumes) [in Russian], Vol.2, Buky-Vedi,

Moscow.

4. Kiesel,A., and Belozersky,A. (1934) About the nucleic

acid nucleoproteins of pea germ [in German], Hoppe

Seilers Z. Physiol. Chem., 226, 160-166, https://doi.org/

10.1515/bchm2.1934.229.4-6.160.

5. Belozersky, A. N. (1935) The nuclein complex of the

french bean seedlings [in Russian], Proceedings of

Moscow State University, 4, 209-215.

6. Belozersky, A. N. (1940) On the quantitative content

of proteins and nucleic acids in the bacterial cell

[inRussian], Microbiologiya, 9, 107-113.

7. Belozersky, A. N. (1941) On the composition of the

protoplasm in Spirillum volutans cells as a func-

tion of culture age [in Russian], Microbiologiya, 10,

185-199.

8. Belozersky, A. N., and Chernomordikova, L.A. (1940)

On the nucleoproteids and nucleic acids of wheat

germs [in Russian], Biokhimia, 5, 133-139.

9. Belozersky, A.N. (1940) On the nucleoproteids of plant

origin [in Russian], Proceedings of Moscow State Uni-

versity, 36, 5-11.

10. Gause, G.F., Brazhnikova, M.G., Belozersky, A.N., and

Paskhina, T. S. (1944) Biological and chemical char-

acterization of crystalline gramicidin S [in Russian],

Bull. Exp. Biol. Med., 13, 3-6.

11. Avery, O. T., Macleod, C. M., and McCarty, M. (1944)

Studies on the chemical nature of the substance in-

ducing transformation of pneumococcal types: induc-

tion of transformation by a desoxyribonucleic acid

fraction isolated from pneumococcus type III, J.Exp.

Med., 79, 137-158, https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.79.2.137.

12. Belozersky, A. N. (1947) On the nucleoproteins and

polynucleotides of certain bacteria, Cold Spring Harb.

Symp. Quant. Biol., 12, 1-6, https://doi.org/10.1101/

SQB.1947.012.01.003.

13. Chargaff,E., Lipshitz,R., and Green,C. (1952) Compo-

sition of the desoxypentose nucleic acids of four gen-

era of sea-urchin, J.Biol. Chem., 195, 155-160, https://

doi.org/10.1016/S0021-9258(19)50884-5.

14. Belozersky, A.N., and Spirin, A.S. (1958) A correlation

between the compositions of the deoxyribonucleic

and ribonucleic acids, Nature, 182, 111-112, https://

doi.org/10.1038/182111a0.

15. Belozersky, A. N. (1957) On the species specificity of

nucleic acids in bacteria [in Russian], in The Origin

of Life on Earth, Reports on the International Sym-

posium, August 1957 (Oparin, A. I., ed.) Publishing

House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow,

p.198-205.

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